Timeline of Giants' head-coaching interviews and Rooney Rule requirement

The New York Giants are being accused by Brian Flores of committing racial discrimination regarding their head-coaching hire.

The Giants hired Brian Daboll as their head coach, and Flores accused them of holding a “sham interview” with him to satisfy the Rooney Rule, which mandates teams interview minorities as candidates.

Considering a lawsuit has been filed, we thought it would be helpful to put together a timeline of the Giants’ head coach search.

The Giants interviewed six candidates for the job. Three of the six candidates were minorities, including Patrick Graham, who was the Big Blue's incumbent defensive coordinator. Flores is the candidate who satisfied the Rooney Rule because his interview occurred in-person and was with a minority candidate from outside the organization. The Giants would have satisfied the rule the following day anyway with their in-person interview with Leslie Frazier.

Here is a timeline of the Giants’ coach search:

Jan. 11 (Tue) – Giants fire Joe Judge as head coach
Jan. 21 (Fri) – Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen hired as GM
Jan. 21 (Fri) – Bills OC Brian Daboll interviews with Schoen and Giants’ co-owners via teleconference
Jan. 22 (Sat) – Bills DC Leslie Frazier interviews via teleconference
Jan. 23 (Sun) – Bengals DC Lou Anarumo interviews via teleconference
Jan. 23 (Sun) – Daboll and Frazier’s Buffalo Bills eliminated from playoffs
Jan. 24 (Mon) – Cowboys DC Dan Quinn interviews in-person. Giants’ first in-person interview for the job.
Jan. 25 (Tue) – Brian Daboll receives second interview. Interview occurs in-person

*Brian Flores receives text messages from Bill Belichick congratulating him on becoming next Giants coach even though Flores has not had his interview yet. Belichick’s text messages were intended for Daboll.*

Jan. 26 (Wed) – Giants DC Patrick Graham interviews. Does not satisfy Rooney Rule since in-house candidate
Jan. 26 (Wed) – Ex-Dolphins HC Brian Flores has dinner with Schoen
Jan. 27 (Thu) – Brian Flores interviews (satisfies Rooney Rule because it is in-person with someone outside organization)
Jan. 27 (Thu) – Dan Quinn announces he is remaining as Cowboys DC
Jan. 28 (Fri) – Leslie Frazier gets second interview, this time in-person, also satisfying Rooney Rule
Jan. 28 (Fri) – Daboll hired as head coach

On Jan. 27, the New York Post’s Paul Schwartz listed Daboll and Flores as the top two favorites for the job, with Daboll in the lead. Daboll was announced as the Giants' head coach late on Friday, Jan. 28.

Daboll was the first candidate the Giants interviewed and seemed to be the favorite for the job all along. Daboll may have even been whom the Giants had in mind as a package deal when they hired Schoen in the first place.

The exact date Belichick sent his texts are unclear. But in a response to Belichick, Flores said his interview with the Giants would be on “Thursday.” Had the text conversation taken place on Wednesday, Flores likely would have written to Belichick that his interview was “tomorrow.” Based on all the information, Belichick’s texts likely came on Tuesday, which would have been after Daboll’s second interview, and two days before Flores’ in-person interview, which satisfied the Rooney Rule.